Lana Del Rey trades chemtrails for ‘Blue Skies’ on Irving Berlin cover
The track features on Jack Antonoff-produced soundtrack to 'The New Look'.
By Kory Grow
Lana Del Rey, she of the country club Chemtrails, has finally discovered ‘Blue Skies’ — at least in the form of songwriter Irving Berlin’s 98-year-old standard.
Of course, since it’s Del Rey, “blue” is a double-entendre, and there’s a sadness in her voice that she can’t quite shake. Where Ella Fitzgerald quivered her voice with a little hope on her rendition and Willie Nelson went full country funk with his, winking his way through every line, Del Rey sounds restrained and distant, as if the blue skies are those of a horizon far away. By the second verse, “Blue daaaays,” she sounds like a gust has spirited her high into the atmosphere. Lana’s lachrymosity works, though, since she’s able to give the song a unique depth. The recording’s best moment comes when she harmonizes with herself, like in the Andrews Sisters’ version. In true summertime sadness fashion, though, it doesn’t last, and all the sound sublimates into itself for the final minute.
The singer recorded the tune for the soundtrack to Apple TV+’s new fashion-themed series, The New Look, which stars Ben Mendelsohn as Christian Dior and Juliette Binoche as Coco Chanel. Del Rey’s buddy and collaborator Jack Antonoff produced the show’s soundtrack, which features similar classics rendered modern by Florence Welch, The 1975, Nick Cave, and Antonoff’s own Bleachers.
After working on ‘Blue Skies’ with Del Rey, Antonoff — the winningest claimant of the Grammy for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical — ought to consider an Andrews Sisters–style Del Rey Triplets sort of album. It’ll have to wait, though, since Del Rey recently confirmed that she and Antonoff are making a country album, Lasso, next.